Bee-section.



' T. D. BUDD.

` BEE SECTION.

APPLICATION FILED .IULYI3, i914.

1,171,501. y 'Patented Feb.15,'1916.

THOMAS D. BTJDD,A GF LA GROSSE, WISCONSIN.;

BEE-SECTION.

Y Speccaton of Letters Patent.; *l Patented Feb. 1.5,

Application sied July 13, 1914,.` serial No. 850,575.

tions, of which the following is a full, clear, 'and eXact specification. Y

This invention relates to improvements in bee sections consisting of an open frame commonly formed from a thin strip of wood about 17 inches long and 2 inches wide provided with transverse grooves andrproyided at its opposite ends with'V interlocking notches or tongues, which strip, following its moistening at the notches is thereupon bent to form with its ends interlocked at one corner to form a section about 4 inches square and of which a number vof such-sections are removably supported and suspended 'byl any suitable means in a bee -hive and removed therefrom for shipment to the market as soon as possible after being filled with comb and honey by the bees as-far as may be.

There is probably no form of receptacle for comb honey more desirable of use vthan a bee section such as abovereferredto, for the reason thatoit is cheap andstrong of construction, convenient of handling for inserting it in and when filled as far as may be, taking it from a bee hive; that such a section'may be made of `asize predetermining the weight of honey to be contained therein when filled, and that these receptacles are convenient of shipment and furnish the best possi-ble means for exposing the honey on the market to would be purchasers; A further advantage in the use of bee sections 'is that they provide'a means by whichothere may be ymaintained at ally times in a bee hive suficient store-room to yprevent undesirably frequent yswarming ofv dence of whichis. that when they do use la section, it is aneXceptional'instance when there are not several spaces left between the edges of the comb and the surfaceV of the section, and even rarer when any substan-Y tialv portionof these edges are secured for their full width to the section with thev 1*@- vin the claims.

-sult that thev conibbreaks away vfrom the 'section'v in handling,I and as frequently in` Atransit that manyl apiarists have discarded the use ofv 'bee sections notwithstanding the desirability beforepointed out. Y

A The object of myinvention .is not only to make a bee section attractivev to honeyfbees lfor laying up theirstore of comb and honey therein, and 'at the same time to provide a and in a sense compelled by their nature to secure their comb continuously to therinnefr surface of the section, but for thefull width of these sides, andv whereby comb honey is so firmly secured tothe surface of Vall four 1 sides of the sections, that/under the ordinary practice followed in' handling and shipping, comb honey will not fall outl of or any portionof it ybe broken away from the section, and` will reduce breakage to a minimumlv More' specifically stated the object of-myv invention is a bee sectionl provided with-a coating of wax manually or, mechanically` yapplied thereto in such a manner that the coating of waX shall be continuous upon all yfour of the inner sides of the section, wherends embodiment vin its application to the bee sections illustrated in-the accompanying drawing, all asfully described with reference thereto and particularly pointed. out

Y Insaid drawing `Figure 1 represents a Vplan' view ofa blank of wood from which bee sections are `formed in' which my invention finds embodiment." Fig, 2v is apperspective view of `a completevA-bee sectionformed from said lblank vshowing'the interlocking meanstherefor, and Fig. Bis a similar View yshowing the attachment' toa'bee section of -a comb foundation. p

Similar characters of reference indicate `the same parts in the. several figures ofthe i drawing.

The Vblank 4 as usually constructed comeighth of an inch thick,two inches wide and about siXteenand three-fourths inches in length, which'vwhen folded forms a bee section four and- 'one-quarter inches by four vmeans by which the bees will be` induced,

monlyA consists of a wood' strip about'oneandy one-quarter inches (outside) and 'con-f taining, when well filled about a `pound-pf com-b honey. This strip is providedat its Arespective ends with tongues and grooves 5 and 6 forming an interlocking joint 7 ,at

5 one corner of thek section of the box formed therefrom, the strip being provided at intervals of its length with transverse notches 8, deep enough to leave a thin film of Wood connection, so thin in fact that whenrmoist- '10 lened the several sections of the strip may without 4|breaking be'folded to the form of a lsquare section. VThe alternate strip sections formed by the grooves being each slightly cut away at their opposite edges as indicated at `9- and 10, to-formpassages between the sectionsfor the bees.

`*The lei-igthy ofthe stripor blanln for bee sections differ in accordance with the desired size of the section -to be formed therefrom, 2o1and they usually consist of basswood of a fine velvety fiberwithout knots, planed to a smoothness, but so far as my invention is concerned may be of other wood andforme'd therefrom in any 'manner heretofore-em- `ployed especially in view of-the fact that the material and means of oining'abee section Yforms no part of my invention, and the form herein-shown is onlyy for the purpose of indieating the application of my inventionto 'bee sections generally, and to which it is applicable.

My invention finds embodiment in a bee section whichv has applied thereto manually by means of a brush,or by dipping Aor me- Achanically by means, for example, of a roller a continuous layer, and preferably a thin film of wax around the entire inner surface of the ybee section, .whichy in practice, however, consists of a ribbon-likeY layer -or lm 40 l1, of a width conforming to the usual width of :a `honey comb, that is to sayfa layer or film kof wax about one and: three-eighthsof an inchwide, in section shown jin drawing, vand therefore narrower than the transverse .iwidthofi the strip from which the bee section is formed, the transverse center of vwhich .corresponds withi that of the transverse center of the strip and ofthe sides Yof the :bee section, thereby vleav-ing about .threesixteenths-of an inch ofthe strip or side sec- :tion unwaxed at each sidey oftheA layer or "film of wax, with the result that the bee comb f will be centered;v as` :it werev in v the section, Vwhen other sizes of f :sections are used the coating or ribbon of waxcanbe applied-any 'desired'widthy r'llheiwax formingltliey coating. or film should be pure bees wax, practice Ihaving shown itifto wbe1 more acceptable tothe bees 60..;thanman'rimpure bees wax, other `waxes :or theircompounds,v andfurthermore, that bees `wax r when'I applied somewhat: heated penetrates 'the-wood and is 'gthereb'ylfheld' :by its -k-fibers finsuchiafmanner as to afford better 465, and stronger:hold` for vsupporting-'the .Weight cof. the Ahoney filled comb in handling and in transit.

vBees wax should be in a more or less heated condition when applied, and while it may be applied by means of a brush to the str-ip, or to the section after being formed from the strip, l find that a better and more satisfactory application of the wax may be made by means of a roller dipping in heated wax and applied with some pressureV to the stripl before it is bent to form a section. in other Iwords by the use of aroller the strips 'may' be very quickly and perfectly provided with afthin ribbon of wax uniformly and accurately located, and which not only effects a saving'of time, but permits the employment of a minimum amount of wax and yet all thatis necessary for inducing honey bees to not only unhesitatingly form and attach honey lcomb thereto, but to and over the entire waxed surface of a bee section.

Repeated practice has demonstrated that bee sections provided with a layer or film of wax, as above described, are very acceptable tobees for they unhesitatingly attach their comb for itsfull rthickness toV and without leaving any openings between the comb and the sides of the section; that they also apply waxf to and tightly secure the interlocked ends of a'section together, and moreover that honey- `bees are not only induced to lill the sectionwith a perfect comb, but to lill the oombhinlits entirety with honey,'which not only `insures afull weight of comb honey to section, but thereby makes the section accordingly attractive and salable.

When it is desired to usea comb foundation'such for example, as illustrated at 12 vin Fig of the drawing, consisting of a ksheet ofwax artificially compressed to a form simulating that otherwise produced by honey bees, the waxed layer or strip on the '-bee. section 'furnishes a convenient and eff-fective means'for securing the comb founda- 'tion to theA .section .in its operative position jonsimplyA pressing one or more of the edges of the foundation against the wax layer or :film on thesection, or after slightly heating the edge or edges of the foundation.

l For securing the .foundation tothe frame it vis only necessary that thereV should be sufficient adherence between the wax on the `fra-me and' the foundationV to insure maintaining the latter in its operative position A until the bees shall have' had sufficient time and .opportunity to secure, as they will, any Y unattached portion of the foundation thereto. In this connection it is proper to observe that these vcomb foundations may be triangular in form with but one edge thereof. `secured to and suspended from and along the central Vline of the section as shown -inifFig 3,7altho'ugh lity is not uncommon to have vthese foundations in rectangular pieces secured .tofone-i side ofthe bee section, their purpose being `like the waxing ofl the'inner f tinuous film of waX manually for mechan-A ically spread thereon yin adhesive contact therewith.

2. A bee section, the inner surface of which is provided with a coating orcontinuous film of waX, manually or mechanically spread thereon and incorporated with i the fibers opposed thereto. Y

3. A beev section, the inner surface of which is provided with a continuous layer or lm of waX spread thereon to correspondence inv width with the thickness of Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, i

comb subsequently formed and attached thereto by honey bees.

4. A bee section, the `inner surface of which is provided with a continuous layer or film of beeswax spread thereon of less width than the width of the frame and located at a point removed from both edges thereof.

5. A bee section formed from a strip having thereon a'layer or lilm of beeswax oontinously extendingv from endv to end thereof, having tongued and grooved ends, and thereafter bent and interlocl'ed to form said section.

Inwitness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and afliXed my seal, this 7th day of July, A. D. 1914.

THoMAs D.BUDD. Y [L s.]

,VVi'tnesses I ROBERT B. LowRY, JN0. P. GoHREs.

Washington, D. C. 

